Spring is in the air

Hi Crafting friends

I don't know about you, but I am bored of this horrible grey and wet weather we are getting in the UK.  I cannot wait for spring, when the bulbs start to appear and the skies start to show blue with a hint of the sun! 

I made this card to cheer me up - I figure if it's raining outside, I can still have sunshine in my craft room.

This is for our latest challenge over at Polkadoodles.  each week we have a new challenge, but it's always anything goes!  you can enter with any image (not just Polkadoodles) and using all kinds of mediums.  The winner gets three digital images for free, chosen from the hundreds in the polkadoodles library. This image is called cute chicken with balloon, from an artist called Lucy Monkman who has a very distinct line style.  Perfect if you're not confident at colouring. 

I fussy cut them out after using Copuics to colour, and mounted on some vellum.  I did this as the patterned paper in the background is quite busy, so the vellum helps the image stand out against the spots. 

So cute - it made me smile!

I'd like to enter this into:

Don't forget to hop over to the Polkadoodles block and check out other DT inspirations and we love to see what you make each week!

See you soon

Rachael 

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Jingle all the way

Hello crafters!

Another two weeks has flown by and we are now into to December on the countdown to the big day!

I am dropping in to share this super cute card in nontraditional Christmas colours - after all, why can't Santa be pink, just because a large drinks manufacturer said he was red, he can be whatever colour you like! 

I made the backgournd using the smaller star stmaps in the set along with two different blue shades of copic for the spots..  Its called Jingle all the way.  I then stamped the main images and coloured them in before fussy cutting and adding on foam pads to my card.

I stamped the setmeiment int he top corner, but the card needed something else... so i doodled a border around the whole thing and around the sentiment.  When mounted on black it really pops off the page.  A really modern take on a traditional classic!

I'd like to enter this into:

Thanks for stopping by - please leave me a comment if you land here, i love to read them and please either follow me on here, or on instagram, facebook or pinterest! 

See you soon!

Rachael 

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Blue Christmas

 Hello Crafting friends.

It's time again for more Polkadoodles inspiration, and this week I'm using one of the latest releases.

This gorgeous poinsettia wreath comes coloured and in plain digis, which I adapted in my own colour scheme.  who said they have to be red or white! They are a bargain, you get loads for only £3.99

I printed the images onto smooth card and coloured using copic markers, then fussy cut them out.  The sentiment which is also in the bundle printed and die-cut using an oval die.  The background I decided to emboss for extra interest and I then mounted it onto silver mirri card.  I then layered the card up onto a 6x6 square card finished with silver glitter and Nuvo drops.

I think this is so elegant, I think I might send it to my Nan.

I'd like to enter this into:

Creative fingers - anything goes #266

My time to craft - use poinsettias #73

Cardz for gals - Dry embossing #212

Fab n funky - use blue hues #584

Thanks for dropping by - for more inspiration please do check out my other social media (buttons are top right!)

See you soon

Rachael 

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Octopus kisses

Hello crafters

Another fortnight has passed so it's time again for another Polkadoodles challenge over on our blog.  You can choose any theme and any project to share with us for a chance to win images.

I have today used one of my all-time favourite images - Winnie Octopus kisses   I have seen some comments recently about people not feeling confident to colour, so just as a reminder - Polkadoodles also do pre-coloured versions of most of the images, so if you lack confidence, or even if you need a quick card in an emergency, the pre-coloured images are amazing!

If you do like to colour - then for this image I used Copic markers for a base colour.  I used a couple of shades but didn't do much blending.  Over the top, I then used polychromos pencils to add depth to the shadows and texture across the image.  They are great for adding small detail too such as flicks in the hair. It really helped with the effect of pearlescence on the tail.  it looks like it shimmers between the purple and the turquoise. Finally, I added a white gel pen for a glittery effect

The papers are from my polkadoodles stash, when I print out digi images that have matching papers I keep them in a pile on my desk so I can pull them out when needed so I don't waste anything.

All then finished with twine, stickles glitter and some Nuvo drops.

I'd like to enter this into:

Creative fingers - Anything goes

Creative Inspiration challenges - Anything goes

Ally's Angels - anything goes

Crafts galore encore - Anything goes

Love to craft - Anything goes

Thanks so much for joining me - I hope to see your entries o our blog.

If you like my work then you can follow me on Instagram, Pinterest of facebook - the links are above.

See you all soon

Rachael 

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Breaktime!

Hello crafting friends

Once again our blog challenge over at Polkadooldes starts again today.  I have gone right out of my comfort zone this week and coloured a whole scene with my copics

This image is called Breaktime with a theme for picnics, but never mind the food, he looks super comfy having his nap in the sunshine!

I enlarged the digi image to fit a 6x6 square card and then coloured with copics

I hope you like it!

I'd like to enter this into:

Thanks you for stopping by here, there are many ways to show you appreciate my work on social media the links are top right, or just leave me a little comment.  It really makes my day to read them!

See you again soon

Rachael 

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Patch puppy

 Hi everyone

there is a new challenge over on our All dressed up Facebook page - the theme this month is die cuts or punches.

The image for this is called patch puppy and he can be found here

I coloured him with copics and fussy cut him leaving a bigger white border than I usually do.

The sentiment is a Julie Hickey die and the wishes part is from a polkadoodles sentiment stamp set called birthday celebrations.

The background circle is die cut, as are the flowers which are MFT stitched flowers dienamic.  I wanted a monochrome look for this card so stuck with blues and whites.  

I am in love with this card, it is so so cute!

I'd like to enter this into:

Thank you so much for stopping by - please leave me a comment if you land here!

See you soon

Crafting hugs

Rachael

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Born to ride!

 Hello everyone

Wow, these two weeks do sure come around fast for the next polkadopodles challenge. This card was made in advance of fathers day (i know it's not until June) but I had to make a men's themed card for the challenge and I saw this gnome.  My dad is a biker and I knew this would make the perfect card for him, so I've made well in advance to go into my stash until then.

The image is called motorcycle tattoo  and you can get him in a digi image, or precoloured if you are in a rush

I coloured him using copics, then cut him and some of the accessories out.  The papers behind are from an old pad I don't even have a cover for anymore

The 'born to ride' sentiment is with the set, and I typed a father's day sentiment on the computer for the bottom banner.

Men's cards can be really hard to make, but you will find tonnes of suitable images on the polkadoodles website that make it easier!

Our challenge is anything goes, using any image, and we look forward to seeing what you make!

I'd like to enter this into:

C.R.A.F.T. - anything goes

cards 4 guyz - any colouring medium

Pammies pinkie inkies - Anything goes

Allyangels - anything goes

classic design challenge - anything goes

See you again soon

Crafting hugs

Rachael

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Up. up and away!

Hello crafting friends

Its time for another new release over at all dressed up and although valentines has passed, this release can be used for so much more.

Here is my inspiration using valentines boy

I coloured him with a combination of copics, then using polychromos pencils for extra depth and detail.

The papers are from a Nitwit digi kit that I layered together, and then fussy cut the cute image and added with foam tape for dimension

Here are all of the new releases

Looking good (re-release)

Valentines boy

Valentines girl

Our Facebook challenge is still ongoing here  with the theme of celebrations, or hop over to our challenge blog where the theme is anything goes!

Thanks so much for stopping by today - it really does mean the world when I get emails with your comments on them.  Follow me on Facebook, or instagram for more

See you again

Crafting hugs

Rachael

 

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Springtime

Hello crafting friends

I just love this time after Christmas when you can put away the frosty blues, reds, and greens and pull out the pastel shades!  Spring is my favourite time of year and the colour palette we can use is just the best!

This card was made for our latest blog challenge over at Polkadoodles.  It's always anything goes, so you can be in with a chance of winning some amazing images from the lovely Nikky, but you have to be in it, to win it!

I made this using some papers from the Winnie sugar sprinkles springtime collection and that is also where the digi image is from.

She was coloured using Copics and Spectrum noir brush markers, then fussy cut out before being laid on the papers using a die from my stash.

As the sentiment was printed in black, I thought it needed another bit of black to make it pop, and found this ribbon off-cut in my drawer.  

Isn't she super cute!

I'd like to enter this into:

Thank you so much for stopping by - it really makes a difference to know people are interested in my art.  Any comments, likes of follows I get are always appreciated! 

See you again soon

Rachael 

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Bundle of Joy

 Hello crafters

Today I'm sharing the latest DT inspiration for our Facebook challenge over at all dressed up.  Each month on the 1st we have a new theme for you to make projects for and enter for a chance to win some images from the fabulous Wendy Burns.

This month our theme is clean and simple.

I do love a CAS card, and here is mine using a stamp called night night little one 

I printed the image and coloured with copics and Spectrum noir tri blend brush markers

The paper is from my stash and the sentiment stamp is from a waltzing mouse set that I have had for around 15 years!

The only other finishing touch was a clear glitter sparkle pen on the flower and on the pads of her feet.

I'd like to enter this into:

• CAS on Sunday -A greeting card
• Creative fingers - Anything goes
• Passion for markers - anything but Christmas
• Through the craft room door - Anything goes
• Cutie pie challenge - four legged friends

Thank you for dropping by - please check out my other SM channels too for more inspiration and crafting fun and leave me a comment if you land here! 

See you soon

Rachael

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Christmas postbox

Hello everyone

it is time once again for the latest all dressed up Facebook challenge.  Our theme is seasons greeting, meaning anyhting festive goes!

Our challenge runs for one month and if you share your card and add to the gallery, then you'll be entered into the draw to win some of Wendy's amazing images - including the new releases!

This stamp iss called Christmas stamp and is available here from Etsy

 I made an inky background with distress oxides and a sentiment from my stash of stamps.  The image is coloured with Copics and fussy cut out before being popped p using foam pads.

Finished with some splatters of ink and some nuvo drops.

Head over to our page to see the other DT inspiration, or our challenge blog is running an anything goes competition in case you have something you want to share that's not festive! I can't wait to see what you make! 

I'd like to enter this into:

See you again soon

Rachael 

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Winter stockings

Hello everyone

Time for new release over at All dressed up and they are, as ever, super cute!

This one is called stockings and is perfect for people with pets this Christmas as you can colour the dog and cat to match the animals of the family!

The other new releases are:

Rocking horse

Stockings

Toadstool

Aren't they gorgeous? The DT have made some stunning samples on our Facebook and on our blog to showcase these images! 

Hope to see you again soon!

Rachael 

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Terror-ific

Hello again - I'm back with another spooky themed project!

This autumn gnome can be used for Halloween or just for autumn, but he is so cool and really easy to colour.  If you don't have the time or patience to colour, you can buy him pre-coloured.  Both digi and pre-coloured are available on the poolkadoodles website here:

This is to celebrate the start of our latest challenge over on the polkadoodles blog. where our theme , as ever, is anything goes...

Our DT always have some amazing projects to whet the appetite or if you're feeling a bit uninspired, yu can also check out the shop where every image has a gallery you can look through to help you imagine what you can make with the images! Please pop over and see us!

I firstly printed and coloured him using copics.  I then took the sentiments from the set and some paper and tore it for the central banner.  I decided it needed some interest in the background and grabbed a stencil from my stash and inked through.

All finished with some black Nuvo drops and a doodled border in black fineliner! 

I am scheduling this post as I'm away on hols, but i will be back soon with more inspiration! Thanks for stopping by!

See you again soon

Rachael

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Birthday Boy

 Hello everyone

I hope you are all safe and well out there!

Its time for another challenge on our Facebook page this time the theme is boys.  One of my all time favourite all dressed up images is for boys, and I have used him in the past for many cards, so I thought I would dig him out again and make him into a birthday card using Autumnal colours.

This cutie is called 'Baseball Bear' and I coloured him using Spectrum Noir triblend brush markers.

The star dies I have had forever - I don't even know where they came from I've had them in my stash for that long. Otherwise I used creative expression Lisa Horton stamp set for the sentiment and the letters are from Lawn Fawn Oliver's alphabet.

I hope you love him as much as I do.

I'd like to enter this into:

Thanks for dropping by - if you want to see more of my work, and less of my rambling  - then maybe Instagram or Facebook are the places to check me out - links top right!

See you very soon

Crafty hugs

Rachael 

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Friends forever

 Hello lovely people

Today is another new challenge over at the polkadoodles blog.  There’s a chance of winning three super images from the huge digi range that the shop has.  The tough part is choosing which three.  Even runners up get one image each! 

Here’s my inspiration for a friendship card.

I used  Missed you to make this.  I firstly stamped the background using the stamp set 'Love hearts' adding in in the hearts as well as the border stamp.  I then use my copics to colour the image and fussy cut it out.    The hearts were cut out and then glossy accents applied as well as on her hair grip. The paper behind is a piece from my scrap folder.

I just love how it turned out! 

I’d like to enter this into:

Aud sentiments - anything goes

Two sisters on the blog - anything goes

Clever dexter - anything goes

Creations in pink - Anything goes with lots of pink

Creative fingers - anything goes

Remember you have to be in it to win it, so I look forward to seeing your entry! And if you like me style please check out other social media pages in the link above

See you soon!

Rachael

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Footie mad

 Hi everyone

Now this card has been received I can share with you on my page.  I made this for my sons friend who has just turned 11 and is an Aston villa fan

I printed him out and coloured him using Copics in the team colours.  I used a photo from the tinternet so I could reproduce as close to the strip as possible.

The papers are from a digi kit i downloaded from Etsy around 5 years ago, as are the embellishments, but I find I use this kit time and time again for boys cards.

I hope you like it!

I'd like to enter this into

Passion for markers - more than 3 layers

Try it on Tuesday for the man in your life

Crafting Happiness - Anything goes

Use your stuff - Anything goes

Taylormade cards 4U - masculine

Creative knockouts - for the kids

Thanks so much for stopping by - please leave me a comment and follow me on other social media channels - the links are in the top right to make it easy for you.

See you soon!

Rachael

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A cuddle makes it all better

 Hi crafting friends

If you have never been here before - a warm welcome, and for those who have, thanks for stopping by again!

Today its a card made using one of the older all dressed up images called 'a cuddle makes it all better.'  This is for our Facebook challenge starting today over on our page.  The theme for this month - Lets be cute, and what is possibly cuter than a little girl hugging her dog!

After printing her out, I decided I wanted to layer this card up, so I used a Nitwit scrapbook digi kit called Day to Day.  I resized several elements and printed them out, before arranging across my card.

I coloured the image using a combination of copics and Prismacolour pencils.

Once I had arranged everything, I adhered everything down using a combination of glue and foam pads, and finished with some sparkly stickles around the edges of the butterflies and on the flowers.

I love the colour palette on this - I would never think to put raspberry pink with mint green, but I think its beautiful.

Please check out our Facebook page and our challenge blog, you can enter both, multiple times for a chance of inning three gorgeous images from Wendy.  All we ask is you use the all dressed up images.  If you don't have any there are some freebies on the blog to get you started, or hop over to the etsy page and treat yourself.

The DT have some amazing inspiration!

Watch out for the new releases coming soon too!

I'd like to enter this into:

• crafty Gals corner - add a flower
• Simon says stamp - anything goes
• Creative knockouts - anything goes
• Krafty Chicks - anything goes
• Crafty Catz - Lots of layers
• Creative fingers - anything goes 
• My time to craft - lots of layers

Thanks for stopping by - I'd love it f you left me a comment, or were to follow me on Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest (links on the right at the top)

See you soon

Rachael 

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Celebrate!

 Hello crafting friends 

Happy 1st December - hope you've all opened that first window of your advent calendar!

Over at All Dressed Up Facebook, our new challenge is starting!.  the theme this month is celebrate... however you want to interpret this whether it be a Christmas, Hanukah, birthday, new years or any other celebration!

Our winner gets three All dressed up images, or you may get picked as our top three.  There were some gorgeous makes last month!

If you want to take part, or to check out more dressy girl inspiration click here.

Here is my card using Prosecco time.

Ingredients

• Stamp - all dressed up prosecco time (available from Etsy here) 
• Coloured with - Copics and Prismacolour pencils
• Sentiment - Crafters companion
• dies - 
• Flowers Creative expressions
• Tattered Lace - pearl squares
• Backing paper from my stash.
• Finished with Nuvo drops, glossy accents and shimmer pens

I printed and coloured the image before using my square die to cut her out.  I wanted a 'pop' of pink so I added a bright pink card stock behind and matted her onto the damask patterned paper.  Matted again on more pink to add contrast to the edges.

I added the sentiment and flowers, using my shimmer pen to add sparkle across several elements of the card, including the sentiment.  I then added glossy accents to the sentiment (which looks like a glittery puffy sticker), as well as nuvo drops to the flowers.

I hope you like her!

Please do check out our FB page, or our blog (you can enter your card in both places if you like! )  There's loads of inspiration form the super talented team!

I'd like to enter this into

Through the craft room door - anything goes

Colour my heart - black white grey and one other colour

All sorts challenge - use a digi stamp

See you all very soon - oh and please leave me a message or follow me on SM (links on the home page) I'd love to see you there!

Crafting hugs

Rachael 

 

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Sip, Sip, Hooray!

Hello Crafting friends,

Welcome back to my blog for another card.  This time using Edna from Stamping Bella.

My friend asked me if I could make a card for a friend who liked gin (well who doesn't!) and I made a selection of cards for her to choose from.  After making the one below (but in a blue colour) I decided I would make it again in pink and keep one in my stash.

 Ingredients

• Stamping bella - Edna needs a martini
• Distress ink - Kitch flamingo
• Stencil from the range
• Sequins from my stash
• Coloured with spectrum noir triblend brush markers

I used my craft artist software to draw and frame in black and add the sip, sip, hooray sentiment in various fonts onto the bottom of the card, and printed this out.

After cutting to size I used my stencil and a light hand to add pink bubbles in the background.

Edna was stamped and coloured, and stickles added to her wings for added sparkle.  I then fussy cut her out and added her with foam pads onto the background, finishing with a few pink sparkly sequins to complete the card.

Isn't she just adorable, a girl after my own heart!

I'd like to enter her into:

• Pammies pinkie inkies - Anything goes
• Lil patch of crafty friends - Anything goes
• Dragonfly dreams - in the pink
• Crafters castle - Anything goes
• Sisterhood of snarky stampers - everything pink
• rabisco challenge - Anything goes with Pink
• Daring cardmakers - wear it pink

Thank you for stopping by!  if you like what I do, please leave me a comment and follow my blog, or click back to my home page for more social media options including Facebook and Instagram.

See you again soon

Crafting hugs

Rachael 

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2 cards...one image part two

 Hi everyone

As I hinted yesterday, here is part two of my one image two cards, both very different in terms of feel, but the same cute image from All dressed up called Dog Walker.  Isn't she adorable?

This one is happy summer bold colours

Ingredients

• Digi image - Dog Walker from All dressed up
• Backing papers - first edition 6 x 6 pad called family ties
• Coloured with Copics and Spectrum noir triblender brush pens 
• Sentiment - Digi one from Lili of the Valley
• Flowers - My Favorite things Stitched flowers dienamics
• Glossy accents

I coloured her using my copics and cut her down on my paper trimmers, rounding the corners with a punch.  I added stitched detail with a fine liner in red, and then added black dots to make it look realistic.

I did the same to the printed sentiment.

Using three different papers from the pad I composed a background I liked, and cut out some flowers from the some red spotty paper I had in my off cuts folder.  layered it together, and then added glossy accents to her bag and boots for some added interest.

So... which one do you prefer, pastel or bold?  leave me a comment below and let me know, or hop on over to one of my social media pages (link on the main page) and let me know there.

I'd like to enter this into:

The Cutie pie challenge - Girls girls girls. 

Watercooler Wednesday - Feminine 

Creative moments - Anything goes

Through the purple haze - anything goes 

Cute card Thursday - Anyhting goes (Bright colours optional)

Thanks for stopping by

Crafty hugs

Rachael 

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